The Alpha's Missing Mate

Chapter 3

3.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Jared Michaels asked the girl still crouched before him, the command for her to answer evident in his voice.

"I needed a run," she answered truthfully. "I haven't had a chance to in the last few weeks, and she's been driving me insane."

"She?" he asked, noticing she hadn't told him her name, but not pressuring her on it.

"My wolf," she stated in a whisper.

"Why haven't you shifted before now, Little One?" he asked as he cocked his head to the side. "Surely you could have used your pack's lands before now."

"Pack?" she asked him in confusion.

"Yes, your family," he stated as a creeping sensation started at the base of his spine. Surely she wasn't a rogue. But then he remembered finding her all alone, fear evident on her face as she went through the Change. Oh, dear gods, no. She wasn't a lone wolf, left to fend for herself with no knowledge of her heritage, was she?

"I have no family," she said as she looked down and studied the ground in front of her, confirming his worst suspicion.

"Dammit," she heard him exclaim as he ran his hand through his hair. Oh how she wanted to do that for him, she thought before stopping and chiding herself. 'What is wrong with me?!' she wondered to herself.

"Is that why you were by yourself last year?" he asked, his voice gentle as he gazed at her.

"I guess," she said with a sad shrug. "I didn't know what was happening last year. I just knew I needed to be out in the woods, then the pain came and I started to change."

"Shit," he swore. "Where are you from? Where do you live?"

She glanced up at him, trepidation clear in her eyes. "I'm not telling you that. I'm not stupid!"

And with that, she jumped up and ran into the forest, shifting in mid leap.

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"Tommy!" Jared called out for the sandy haired boy who was lounging in the media room when he walked into the pack house and made his way to his office.

"What's up, Jared?" the boy asked as he followed his alpha towards the large mahogany desk at the far side of the room.

"I need you to scout out the high school, the library, and any other place teenagers like to hang around for a girl," he said as he fired up the laptop before him.

"What? You having trouble finding a skirt of your own, now, old man? You want me to find one for you to play with?" Tommy teased, earning him a glare.

"No, smart ass. I can get a woman all on my own. But I need you to look for this girl because she likes to run away from me."

"What?! A female that isn't automatically a slave to your charms? Say it isn't so, big brother!" Tommy chortled as he fell into the huge wing back chair placed before Jared's desk.

"It's not what you're thinking, Mutt. She's an abandoned lone wolf. I helped her with her first shift last year, and before I could stop her, she ran away. I saw her again today, made her shift back to human, but she refused to give me her name or address, and ran away again," he explained.

"Okay, but why does that make me have to search for her?" Tommy asked, confusion evident in his expression.

"She's afraid of me for some reason, and I really want to find her. There's something about her, Mutt. I could tell when I asked her were she's from. She's afraid I'll hurt her if I know who she is."